Neil McMahon

There are many early risers in the broadcast media game, from breakfast TV hosts to FM comedians. But for respect and influence - and, as she enters a ninth year of pre-dawn alarms, longevity - none matches the national reputation and record of Fran Kelly.

The host of Radio National's Breakfast program is at the helm of a two-hour, agenda-setting marathon that is unashamedly serious and global in its mission, even as its competitors go about their business of easing audiences into the day with go-easy gags.

And in the role she has occupied since March 2005, the 22-year veteran of Australian journalism seems completely comfortable. Kelly respects and understands the program's long-established stature - she was a reporter on it long before hosting - and knows whose ears it reaches as the clock strikes six on a weekday morning. They will be listening in The Lodge and in Spring Street, and in myriad homes and offices and cars less renowned but just as engaged.

''I'm very mindful of the responsibility that goes with that but also of the opportunity that goes with that,'' Kelly says. ''You want to be in front of the curve if you can, or I want to make sure that if I'm doing what we all understand is the interview of the day, that I'm trying to take it somewhere new, or I'm trying to make sure I touch all the bases that may have been thrown up, say, in the newspapers that morning.''

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Or, as she notes, the blogs, or on Twitter, or on the 24-hour TV news channels. Kelly puts in long hours, inhaling the news of the world in the morning dark and still taking mental notes late at night. ''It is a big job, it is a big workload. That's what's great about it - every morning, that's what's exciting about it. But it's also every night, and that's what's slightly daunting about it.''

When she was appointed host, she was thrilled - ''It just seemed the right fit for me'' - but it was a long time before she felt confident she'd mastered the complexities. ''It's a job that took me probably half that [eight years] to get a handle on, to be really feeling comfortable. It was a big change for me and the show evolved as we sorted and settled the team down. It was a job in which I was learning for a lot of the time … and suddenly before I knew it I'd been there five years.''

When she started, Kelly was already familiar to audiences from her television and radio work, both as Canberra correspondent and a term reporting from London. To use a showbiz term, she was a well-established triple threat - a great reporter, sharp interviewer and natural on-air presence. And having first covered Canberra in her early days - Labor's Hawke-Keating joust marked her debut - taking charge of a program whose reputation hinges largely on its authoritative voice on federal politics was a natural fit.

Eight years in, it's hard to imagine anyone else in the chair. Kelly seems completely at home. She knows that more often than not, the program can get the voices it needs on air simply because it commands such respect.

''I'm not saying that every time you want somebody, they're there, it's not that easy. It's a very competitive morning field now, there are lots of people wanting the interviews in the morning. But we have a really good strike rate - we're respected and we get treated with respect, by and large.''

There is, she notes, one exception to that rule. Not for the first time, she puts on record the refusal by Tony Abbott to come on the program. In an election year, it's a media strategy that threatens to become an issue in and of itself.

''It's a matter of record we're having trouble getting Tony Abbott,'' Kelly says. ''We've been asking a lot and we're not getting him, but we'll keep asking.''

She says she's never seen a politician in Abbott's position maintain such a persistent snub towards a media outlet.

''Not quite like this, not for this length of time, and not this broadly,'' Kelly says. ''There's generally a regard for the audience [by leaders]. We have a very informed audience. They're not just influential, they are informed and interested, they're a vibrant part of this voting electorate, and they deserve to be addressed.

''It's an extreme response from the Opposition Leader and I don't think it's responsible. It's disrespectful to my audience, which is there every morning for a diet of politics and intelligent discussion … and I think it's incredibly disrespectful for the Opposition Leader to think he doesn't need to address them.''

Even with an election due in September, Kelly says she can't be sure that attitude will change.

''All we can do is put in the request … and the Opposition Leader, or whoever, can do as they choose. But certainly, coming up to an election I would expect the Opposition Leader would understand that there are many parts of the electorate he should be talking to that want to hear his views on things.''